2005 Finger Family NewsPage
by Dwight Finger

November 13, 2005

The website has been updated. This update includes expanded information on the descendants of Barry Lee Finger, son of Virgil Rightmyer Finger for which we thank Barry's daughter Deborah Finger Cook.

Also in this update is a bit of interesting information concerning the Austin line. In researching through Civil War Pension Files at the National Archives, I was able to get birth dates for the children of John C. Austin (b 1844) and his wife Louisa Bunce. It was also discovered that she had been previously married to William Feighner on March 12, 1864, but that he died June 21, 1864. I have a copy of their marriage certificate, which I hope to upload soon.


November 10, 2005

This interesting exchange of messages took place today. If anyone has any further information, please contact the Finger Family website and/or Joseph Ornig at jornig@aldonco.com
Dear Friends,

I am seeking biographical information, letters and photo of Robert Lucas Finger, who was Chief Engineer of the steamship EVENING STAR. The ship sank in a hurricane in October 1866 off the Georgia coast and Mr Finger was one of the survivors. I am doing research on the ship and the shipping line for which Mr Finger worked.

I will appreciate any advice you can give me.

Sincerely,

Joseph R Ornig
308 Stanley Avenue
Waukegan, Ill. 60085

Joseph,

...It is an interesting request you have because we do not show a Robert Lucas Finger in our database. However, we do have a Conrad Lansing Finger who died at sea at the sinking of the ship Evening Star on 3 Oct 1866, when it struck an iceberg off the coast of Greenland. (source, Old Dutch Post Star newspaper) Conrad was the son of Adam Finger and Jane Lasher Finger.

Dear Mr Finger:

Thanks for the prompt response. I think the Old Dutch Post Star had an error in its entry....the steamship EVENING STAR upon which Robert L Finger served as Chief Engineer sank in a hurricane off the Georgia coast on October 3rd 1866, very far from Greenland! Robert Finger survived the sinking. The name EVENING STAR was not uncommon in those days for ships. Somewhere I saw "1842" as the date the Greenland sinking took place, in which Coenrad Finger lost his life. In any event, it may be that the Finger family here were seafaring folk for one or two generations. I don't know Robert Finger's birth or death dates, and the New York City newspaper accounts of the 1866 EVENING STAR sinking give no clue as to Finger's home town, etc.


...Perhaps some distant Finger descendant may know something of Robert L Finger (the Lucas may be an error) who served as chief engineer for the New York Mail Steamship Co in the 1860's.

Messages and e-mail address posted by permission.


November 8, 2005

Here is a note from Robert Finger,
HELLO...,
MY NAME IS ROBERT FINGER. MY FAMILY LIVED IN THE ROCKLAND COUNTY AREA OF NEW YORK, JUST OFF HUDSON RIVER. MY FAMILY NAME ALSO MAY HAVE BEEN FINGAR. MY GRANDFATHER LOUIS FINGER HAD JUST PASSED AWAY LAST MARCH, 2005 AT THE AGE OF 97. MY GRANDMOTHER VALERIA FINGER IS STILL ALIVE AT THE AGE OF 88. SHE NOW LIVES IN FLORIDA CLOSE TO MY UNCLE RONNIE FINGER. MY FATHER ROBERT FINGER OR BOB FINGER PASSED AWAY IN 2001 AT THE AGE OF 60. MY BROTHER RANDY AND I ARE THE ONLY RELATIVES I KNOW OF IN THE CALIFORNIA AREA. I HEARD WE MAY HAVE OTHER RELATIVES IN CALIFORNIA, NOW MAYBE IN A LOT MORE PLACES THAN I REALIZED. MY GRANDFATHER HAD A TWIN BROTHER ALSO IN THE NEW YORK AREA. I NEED TO DIG UP MORE INFO. I KNOW THAT THEY LIVED IN NEW YORK CITY BRONX AREA, AND LATER MOVED TO THE HAVERSTRAW, GARNERVILLE AREA OF NEW YORK AND OTHER RELATIVES LIVE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK AND FLORIDA, AS WELL AS SOME IN CALIFORNIA I HAVE NEVER SEARCHED OR MET. I'M NOW 42 AND MY BROTHER RANDY IS 40. IT WOULD BE REALLY GREAT TO FIND MORE MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY.

THANK YOU,
ROBERT FINGER
LOS ALAMITOS CALIFORNIA, NEXT TO LONG BEACH
I replied and let him know that besides myself, Wendell Fingar also lives near me in California. I asked Robert for more information, since his family may be related to ours (or not). If anyone can help us find a connection, please get in touch.


October 8, 2005

This interesting message came from Lee Fingar:
Cousin Peter Fingar uncovered an interesting piece of fact. It seems that it was popular at least in Germantown, NY in the later 19th century and early 20th century to use old tombstones as walkways. Peter found one such tombstone being used as a walkway at an old farmer's house. As it turned out, it was the tombstone of Reuben Fingar, Sr. Peter had it reset in the Reformed Church Cemetery. (Body location unknown). The stone reads as follows:

Reuben Fingar
died
December 23, 1870 aged
42 years, 8 months, 8 days

Ye friends that weep around my grave
Compose your heart (?) to rest
Prepare with me for sudden death
And live forever blessed.


Reuben was Supervisor of the Town of Germantown in 1865 and 1866.

Of special interest is the discrepancy between the tombstone and the dates of birth/baptism. The tombstone dates Reuben's birth to 1828 - not 1823 per the website. Because of the similarity between a 3 and an 8 in 19th century script, could it be that whoever recorded the year of birth/baptism confused 1828 to be 1823?  Also, there is a one month difference between the tombstone and the birth/baptism dates but that could be because those who dated the tombstone could not count the months accurately.

All my best,
Lee Fingar
In my answer to Lee I said I think we should stay with the birth year of 1823, based on Reuben's age of 26 on the 1850 census, 36 on 1860 and 48 on 1870.


Aug 31, 2005

Not too much going on these days, but we did get this from Ron Finger:
My name is Ronald Lee Finger, and I live in Orlando FL. I pulled up your web site and was wondering if we were in some way related? I know that we (my family) are from MO. My grandfather’s name is William Glenwood Finger. Does that sound familiar? If so then there is a whole group of us that you don’t know.
I answered Ron and indicated that we don't seem to be related to his family, but suggested he research it a little further.


July 17, 2005

There are a few items to report today, but first we are saddened to have to report the passing of Judith Finger Bradley, who lost her battle with cancer this week. Our condolences go to her husband, Chris and the family. Judith, along with her daughter Sarah, had been contributors to the Finger family website since 1998. She had referred to herself and her daughter Sarah as a "mother-daughter enterprise".


Lee Fingar sent us a picture taken by Peter F. Fingar of Coenradt Finger's headstone. Here is part of the message from Lee:
Peter F. Fingar as well as myself and other members of our family thought it should be restored as the lettering was becoming unreadable. We originally had wanted to re-engrave the original lettering but everyone agreed that such an effort would damage badly what lettering was left. So we all decided to re-do the exact same lettering on the backside as close as possible to the style on the front side. Peter took the picture and provided all the help in getting the tombstone to the monument house as well as getting it re-installed. You will note a bronze plaque to the left of the tombstone. This identifies Conrad Fingar (Coenradt Finger) as a son of the American Revolution. Jane Fingar Branigan received the plaque as a result of her applying to the Daughters of the American Revolution.


In doing some personal research, I was able to make the following additions/corrections:

July 3, 2005

I discovered an interesting fact in my research. Concerning the story of Jacob W. Fingar, we have known from a Civil War Pension Record deposition that he lived in Rutland, Vermont for a time under the assumed name J.W. Hoffman. Today I discovered that in 1860 the family of Frederick Hoffman was just 2 doors away from Jacob, and there was a son named Jacob W. in that family. Both Jacobs were carpenters, too. Here's a picture of the census page.

In trying out a new search engine recently I came across the existence of another Dwight Finger! I called the number and spoke with his mother, whom he lives with in Indianapolis, Indiana. She told me he was born in Tennessee in 1953, is not married, and is the son of Claude and Dora Finger. His grandfather is George A. Finger, also born in Tennessee. So, most likely he is a descendant of the "Southern" Finger family (see link below, for May 8) and not related to our line or to me.


June 18, 2005

The database has been updated, mostly to include some new information sent to us by Amanda Gale Fingar. First off, I had spelled her middle name wrong, then I was able to add her husband and children. Amanda can be reached at amahaf246@fuse.net

Message and e-mail address posted by permission.


May 8, 2005

We know that most Fingers in the southern states are descendants of Peter Finger, as James Finger mentions on his site. (The Southern Finger Family) As far as we can tell, there is no direct connection to our line. But this week we heard from Judy Finger Brown from Charleston, South Carolina, who IS related to us. She is the granddaughter of Edwin Elsworth Finger and she kindly filled in some current information concerning her line. Judy tells us that although she lives in South Carolina, she is in the Rochester, New York area a lot.


April 16, 2005

We rarely hear from relatives in Iowa, but now we have heard from two! Although he didn't give his name, here is the first one:
I don't really know that much about my family right now. My grandma's name was Carol Finger and her husband left when my dad was young. His name was James Finger and I never have met him. My dad's name is Randi Finger, and he has a brother named Rick and a sister named Penni... I am 20 years old, and my dad is 42 or 43.

Not long after that message arrived, we received this one from Brad Finger:
My name is Brad Alan Finger....I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and I am now living in Des Plaines, Illinois.
My father, Larry Finger, just recently passed away from cancer at the age of 54......I have never known where my family came from. My grandfather Irving Finger was adopted and everyone that has researched that one has come to a dead end....I know that the father was a lawyer and the mother was a secretary, according to my grandmother.

I would really like to know what line I come from. I am married now to Laura Bolettieri-Finger and we have a daughter Ellen Ethel Bolettieri.......We are both employees with American Airlines, me being a mechanic and her a Flight attendant.......If you find a family that I belong in just plug me in......I know we come from German descent, I was just wondering if we were always Fingers or if there was something before the Finger.

Thank-you, Brad

I answered Brad and told him that I did find an Irving R. Finger on the 1930 Cedar Rapids census, age 7, son of Carl and Mattie Finger. Of course, we have no idea if that's Brad's grandfather. Brad can be reached at silverbirdmec1@yahoo.com

Message and e-mail address posted by permission.


March 30, 2005

The database has been updated. Mostly some technical changes but I was able to add the parents, grandparents, and siblings of Amelia Ketterer, the wife of William Finger (b. 1854).

On the Rowland side, I added 3 children of George Harvey Rowland (b. 1839).


February 23, 2005

This week Larry Boddy informed us of the passing of his uncle, Don Fingar, on February 12, 2005. Here is a copy of his obituary as it appeared in Newsday.


February 6, 2005

This week Elaine Fingar Porter sent us some corrections to the family of her brother, Marvin Fingar. We now have the correct information regarding his wives and children. Thank You, Elaine, we are always looking for accuracy.

In doing some research on the 1930 Germantown, Columbia, New York census I was able to add the father and siblings of Fred Funk, husband of Lottie Fingar (b. 1880).

In case anyone might notice, I have removed my e-mail link from all the data pages. It seems that spam-bots were randomly downloading hundreds of pages, and this may help discourage them. My e-mail address will continue to be available on the home page and in the sources list.


January 13, 2005

We were pleasantly surprised this week to hear from a Fingar relative in another country, this time it's France! Read what Ludivine Fingar wrote:
My maiden name is Ludivine FINGAR. I am French, and I am trying to find out where my family comes from. My granddad never knew his parents. He was born in 1928 in Amiens, North of France. He asked the French Orphan Society a few years ago, but they couldn't provide him with any information whatsoever about his birth. He has 7 children and 15 grandchildren. The FINGAR name will continue growing in France.

I was astonished to find your web-site, I never imagined there were so many Fingars in other countries! I was wondering if you could help me out, I looked carefully in your fantastic site, but only found one French sounding name : Norman LaRue Fingar, b 3 Jan 1930, father Robert B. Fingar. How can I found out more about him or his dad? Do you have any information available? As my granddad was born 3 years before him... Do you think our families could be related?

Regards, Ludivine
Since Norman LaRue Fingar is on our Relationship Unknown page, I told her I had no more information on that family. I took a quick look at the 1930 census, but did not find either Norman or Robert Fingar. I let her know that almost all Fingars and Fingers trace back to Germany and probably are related. You can contact Ludivine at lfingar@hotmail.fr

Message and e-mail address posted by permission.


January 1, 2005

To start the new year we have a message from another land, this time Costa Rica. Here is what Ingrid Finger wrote:
Hi, I just want to contact the family Finger. My father's name is Harry Rudi Finger Dalke, he is from Germany, he is 80 years old and we live in Costa Rica, Central America. I understand that in his first marriage he had 5 children and they live in U.S.A and I would like to find them, if you could help me to find them I would be very grateful.

My name is Ingrid Finger and my e-mail address is infingerco@hotmail.com.
If anyone can help, please contact her, but let us know too.

Message and e-mail address posted by permission.


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